A first in the Montérégie region! – A blood donation experience to discover at the Quartier DIX30 GLOBULE Centre

Brossard, February 12, 2014 – Today, Héma-Québec inaugurates its Quartier DIX30 GLOBULE Blood Donor Centre. This new GLOBULE Centre offers people living in the Montérégie region a complementary option to the mobile blood drives for supporting the cause of giving life. Donors in the region are invited to come and make the most of a pleasant and personalized collection experience, 7 days a week, with or without an appointment!

“The Montérégie is a crucial region for Héma-Québec, with a large pool of active blood donors,” explained Dr. Jean De Serres, President and CEO of Héma-Québec. “In Québec, one donor in five comes from the Montérégie. The Quartier DIX30 GLOBULE Centre will enable Héma-Québec to continue responding to the hospitals’ demand by collecting products that are targeted according to the needs of Quebecers.”

Varied donations... more frequently!

The GLOBULE Blood Donor Centres offer donors various types of donations: whole blood, platelets, plasma (Québec and Brossard), red blood cells and multiple donations. Certain types of donations made at the Quartier DIX30 GLOBULE Centre are handled with apheresis equipment. This collection technique collects only the blood component(s) desired (platelets, plasma or red blood cells) and returns the remaining components to the donor.

For example, we can collect only platelets from a donor in a larger quantity than during a whole blood donation, in which all of the components are collected. By making a platelet donation by apheresis, a donor can donate more frequently, namely every 14 days, compared to a whole blood donation which can only be made every 56 days.

Platelets, like the other blood components, are used to save lives every day, as in the case of 3-year-old Louis-David, who has received 80 blood transfusions. “My son was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer 15 months ago. Many transfusions, primarily platelets, were needed to help Louis-David heal. He has now been in remission for 10 months and we enjoy every moment we have as a family. We warmly thank the donors, who have made a real difference,” said Geneviève Grondin, Louis-David’s mother.

About the GLOBULE Blood Donor Centres

The GLOBULE concept complements the mobile blood drives. In Québec, 81% of blood donations are made at mobile blood drives, 13% at a GLOBULE Centre and 6% in a mobile unit. Three other GLOBULE Blood Donor Centres welcome donors: at the Place Versailles shopping mall in Montréal, at the Centre Laval, on Montréal’s north shore, and at the Laurier Québec shopping mall, in the Sainte-Foy borough of Québec City. Last year, the GLOBULE Centres welcomed an average of 1,500 donors per week.

For more information about the Quartier DIX30 GLOBULE Blood Donor Centre: www.hema-quebec.qc.ca. To make an appointment, donors can dial 514-832-5000, extension 525.

About Héma-Québec

Héma-Québec's mission is to efficiently provide adequate quantities of safe, optimal blood components, substitutes, human tissues and cord blood to meet the needs of all Quebecers; to provide and develop expertise along with specialized and innovative services and products in the fields of transfusion medicine and human tissue transplantation.

Héma-Québec encompasses 1,300 employees, over 300,000 donor visits to blood drives per year, 16,000 volunteers and more than 500,000 blood products delivered annually to Québec hospitals to meet the needs of patients.